Bekescsabai Elöre NKSE's appeal rejected

The EHF Court of Appeal has reached a decision in the case relating to the education compensation due in the transfer of the player Jovana Dukic from Radnicki Kragujevac (SRB) to Bekescsabai Elöre NKSE (HUN).

The Hungarian club appealed the decision of the Administrative body of first instance rendered on 22 December 2016 whereby it was decided that the club shall pay €6,640 in education compensation to the Serbian club and a fine of €500 to the EHF for having failed to pay the requested education compensation within 6 weeks following the issuance of the International Transfer Certificate.

The main argument of the appellant consisted in explaining that the amount of education compensation had been agreed between the player and the releasing club in what could be regarded as the employment agreement for the period 2015/2016.

The Court of Appeal found, however, that the IHF Regulations for Transfer Between Federation, especially its article 11, clearly set forth that lower amounts of education compensation can only be agreed upon between clubs (with a possible assistance of the national federations), not between a club and a player. This reflects the essence and concept of education compensation as it was first established in 2004.

Furthermore, while recalling that its competence in the present case is limited to a review of the matter within the regulatory scope, the Court of Appeal underlines that the employment contract referred solely to a “compensation”. Under the aforementioned transfer regulations, two types of compensation exist, transfer compensation which are forbidden upon expiration of the contract and education compensation which may not be agreed upon between a player and a club.

Hence, all arguments of the appellant relating to the content of the employment contract are irrelevant and rejected.

Finally, the Court of Appeal confirmed the €500 fine to be paid by the appellant for having failed to timely paid the due education compensation.

The decision of first instance is therefore upheld.

A statement of claim may be filed by any of the parties to the EHF Court of Arbitration (ECA) within 21 days.